reqnroll-skill

Overview

This skill guides QA engineers and test architects in writing production-grade Reqnroll BDD tests for web and mobile automation in C#. It covers three execution paths — Selenium 4 with manual driver management, Selenium 3 via the Reqnroll.Actions plugin, and Appium 2 for Android mobile — all targeting TestMu AI (LambdaTest) cloud infrastructure.

Reqnroll is the actively maintained open-source successor to SpecFlow. Existing SpecFlow projects can migrate by swapping the NuGet package and namespace — no step definition rewrites required.

Key Execution Pathways

Framework Selection: Distinguishes between Selenium 4 (manual DriverFactory), Selenium 3 (Reqnroll.SpecFlowCompatibility.Actions.LambdaTest plugin with IBrowserInteractions), and Appium 2 (Appium.WebDriver, AndroidDriver).

Cloud vs Local: Reads LT_USERNAME and LT_ACCESS_KEY environment variables; routes to hub.lambdatest.com (web) or mobile-hub.lambdatest.com (mobile). Reports pass/fail to LambdaTest via lambda-status JavaScript executor calls in [AfterScenario].

Parallelism: Uses [assembly: Parallelizable(ParallelScope.Fixtures)] with [assembly: LevelOfParallelism(N)] (NUnit). State is shared between step definition classes via ScenarioContext (injected by Reqnroll's DI container), not static fields.

Core Technical Patterns

Feature Files (Gherkin)

Each .feature file maps to one test class. Scenarios are tagged (@tagName) for selective filtering with dotnet test --filter "Category=tagName". Background steps run before every scenario in the file; Scenario Outlines drive data-driven testing via Examples tables.

Step Definitions

Classes are decorated with [Binding]. Constructor injection (via Reqnroll's built-in DI) receives ScenarioContext or shared context objects. One [Binding] class per concern keeps files small. Regex-based step patterns use (.*) or typed captures ((\d+)) — no attribute-level type converters needed for primitives.

Hooks

[BeforeScenario] initialises the driver (stored in ScenarioContext["driver"]) and navigates to the base URL. [AfterScenario] reads _scenarioContext.TestError (web) or TestContext.CurrentContext.Result.Outcome.Status (mobile) to emit lambda-status=passed/failed before driver.Quit().

ScenarioContext Driver Sharing

Drivers are stored as _scenarioContext["driver"] = driver and retrieved with scenarioContext["driver"] as IWebDriver. This is required for parallel execution — static driver fields cause race conditions.

Explicit Waits

WebDriverWait with Until(d => d.FindElement(locator)) replaces ImplicitWait for dynamic content. A WaitAndFind(By) helper method encapsulates the 10-second default; a WaitAndClick(By, int timeout) variant handles clickability.

Cloud Integration (TestMu / LambdaTest)

Web (Selenium 4)

var ltOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
    { "build", "Build Name" },
    { "project", "Project Name" },
    { "w3c", true },
    { "selenium_version", "4.38.0" },
    { "sessionName", scenarioName },
    { "platformName", "Windows 11" }
};
var options = new ChromeOptions();
options.BrowserVersion = "latest";
options.AddAdditionalOption("LT:Options", ltOptions);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
    new Uri($"https://{userName}:{accessKey}@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub"), options);

Mobile (Appium 2)

var ltOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
    { "build", "Build Name" },
    { "project", "Project Name" },
    { "w3c", true },
    { "app", "proverbial-android" },         // lt:// URI or pre-uploaded alias
    { "platformName", "android" },
    { "deviceName", "Galaxy.*" },
    { "platformVersion", "14" },
    { "isRealMobile", true },
    { "autoAcceptAlerts", true },
    { "autoGrantPermissions", true },
    { "sessionName", scenarioName }
};
var appiumOptions = new AppiumOptions();
appiumOptions.AddAdditionalAppiumOption("LT:Options", ltOptions);
var driver = new AndroidDriver(
    new Uri($"https://{userName}:{accessKey}@mobile-hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub"),
    appiumOptions);

Reporting Pass/Fail

// Web (AfterScenario)
if (_scenarioContext.TestError == null)
    ((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("lambda-status=passed");
else
    ((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("lambda-status=failed");

// Mobile (AfterScenario)
bool passed = TestContext.CurrentContext.Result.Outcome.Status == TestStatus.Passed;
((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("lambda-status=" + (passed ? "passed" : "failed"));

Quality Checkpoints

• Feature files use descriptive scenario names that double as the LambdaTest session name
• ScenarioContext used for driver sharing — never static fields in parallel runs
• [assembly: Parallelizable(ParallelScope.Fixtures)] declared once in any .cs file
• LT_USERNAME and LT_ACCESS_KEY read from environment — never hardcoded
• lambda-status=passed/failed emitted in every [AfterScenario] for cloud runs
• WebDriverWait used throughout — no unconditional Thread.Sleep except transient Appium delays
• Appium locators use MobileBy.Id (resource-id) or MobileBy.AccessibilityId before XPath
• driver.Quit() always called in [AfterScenario] to free cloud device slots
• dotnet test --logger "console;verbosity=detailed" surfaces per-scenario pass/fail

Reference Structure

The reference/ directory contains detailed playbook sections:

File	Contents
playbook.md	Full implementation guide: project setup, all three driver modes, parallel execution, CI/CD, debugging table, best practices checklist
cloud-integration.md	LambdaTest capability reference, LT:Options fields, tunnel setup, build/session naming, test observability
selenium-4-patterns.md	Selenium 4 patterns: DriverFactory, multi-browser, ChromeOptions/FirefoxOptions/EdgeOptions, screenshot on failure
selenium-3-patterns.md	Selenium 3 patterns: Reqnroll.SpecFlowCompatibility.Actions.LambdaTest, IBrowserInteractions, reqnroll.actions.json config
appium-patterns.md	Appium 2 patterns: AndroidDriver, AppiumOptions, gesture helpers, MobileBy locators, app lifecycle